Bottle escapement device

ABSTRACT

A bottle escapement features a conveyor belt that carries the bottles until they hit a stop plate carried by an outer U-shaped bracket. At a selected time, a pneumatic cylinder is actuated to depress a kicker plate mounted on an inner U-shaped bracket to force a bottle below the stop plate and then down an output chute.

o i .7 United States Patent 1 1 3 Garrett Ma 1 1973 541 BOTTLE ESCAPEMENT DEVI E 2,152,970 4 1939 Ness ..19s/24 x [76] Inventor:-

173142 3,071,235 1/1963 Randall ..l98/24 Street, Laurelton, NY. 114

13 Primary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk Filed! J 1971 Assistant Examiner-Douglas D. Watts [21 1 AppL No: 154 349 Attorney-Henry I. Steckler 7 Related U.S. Application Data 57 B T [63] Cominuatio of 116,689 1971 A bottle escapement features a conveyor belt that carabandoned' ties the bottles until they hit a stop plate carried by an outer U-shaped bracket. At a selected time, a pneui matic cylinder is actuated to depress a kicker Plate 58' Field o'r'siiii'fiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX15554 221/261 an inner ushaped bracket a 221/278 88 292 tle below the stop plate and then down an output chute. [56] References Cited 9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,997,796 4/1935 Jay ..22I/26l x PATEMEDHM'H "3.730.324

I SHEUIUFZI INVENTOR.

BURTON R. GARRETT ATTORNEY PATENIEM- 3,730,324

SHEET2UF4 INVENTOR. BURTON R. GARRETT ATTORNEY PATENTEDHAY H 1 I 3,730,324

SHEET U [1F 4 Fig. 5 1 INVENTORQ BURTON R. GARRETT ATTORNEY BOTTLE ESCAPEMENT DEVICE This case is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 116,689, filed on Feb. 9, 1971, now abandoned the priority of which is hereby claimed.

The present invention relates to an escapement mechanism and more particularly one for randomly Y shaped bottles.

Prior art bottle escapement mechanisms have a tendency to interlock the threaded ends of the bottles. In addition, if irregularly shaped bottles are used, the tapered sides can interlock. This frequency results in either no bottles, or two or more bottles escaping at one time.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an article escapement mechanism.

It is another object to provide such a mechanism for irregularly shaped bottles.

It is still another object to provide such a mechanism for dispensing only one bottle at any one time.

It is another object to provide for dispensing objects, one at a time, that can be fed and stacked, single file in a channel on a conveying mechanism.

In brief, these and other objects are achieved by providing a frame which has a stopping means mounted thereon over an input means carrying the articles. At a selected time, a kicker means pushes the articles beneath the stopping means and they go onto an output means.

Other features, objects, and advantages will become apparent from the description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the invention;

F IG. 2 is a top view of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the invention; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are side views partly in cross-section along the lines 4-4, 5-5, of FIG. 2, showing the bottles stopped and being driven beneath a stop plate respectively.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a moving conveyor belt wrapped around a rotating drum 12 so as to move the bottles 14 in the left direction. A top guide 16, which has an adjustable section 18, confines the tops of the bottles 14. Atthe end of the adjustable section 18 is a spring loaded hinge plate 20, which presses down upon the trailing edges of bottles, 14 to help prevent them from going down the inclinded chute 22. FIG. 2 shows that a particular embodiment of the escapement mechanism shown comprises three parallel channels with the side guides 24 defining the channels. Each of the channels is identical so that only one will be described. It is understood that only one channel is needed to comprise the present invention. This figure also shows that adjustable section 18 has a slot 26 through which project bolts 28, which are secured by wing nuts 29.

Vertical posts 30, 30a are horizontally displaceable with respect to the drum 12 by means of a rack and pinion mechanism located between the two sections of the belt 10, and said posts carry the escapement mechanism proper of this invention. An outer U- shaped bracket 32 comprising sidearms 34a, 34b, and a crosspiece 36 is pivotally mounted to the posts 30, 30a by shafts 38, 38a respectively. Fixedly secured to crosspiece 36 is a stop plate 40 which prevents the bottles 14 from moving further leftward. Horizontal bars 42, 42a are mounted on the vertical posts 30, 30a respectively,

and are supported by blocks 90, 90a which provide outboard support for the entire escapement mechansim. Threaded bolts 44, 44a project through the crosspieces 34a, 34b respectively to abut the horizontal bars 42, 42a respectively. Therefore, by turning bolts 44, 44a the bracket 32 will pivot about the shafts 38, 38a, and hence, the height of stop plate 40 above conveyor belt 10 can be adjusted. A gage 46 is secured to either horizontal bar 42 or sidearm 34a to help in the adjustment.

An inner U-shaped bracket 48 likewise comprises sidearms 50, 50a and crosspiece 52. As shown in FIG. 1, sidearm 50 has yoke portions 54, 54a each of which in turn have inwardly projecting tongues 56, 56a respectively. A square bushing 58 is pivotally mounted to the vertical post 30a by shaft 38 and has horizontal grooves along its top and bottom surfaces to receive the tongues 56, 560 respectively. The yoke bolt 60 goes through both yoke portions 54, 54a. Although not shown in the drawings, the crosspiece 50a has the identical yoke portions with tongues to engage a groove on a square bushing that pivots about shaft 38a. Also, there is the corresponding yoke bolt 60a. Loosening yoke bolts 60, 60a, permits tongues.54, 54a to slide in said grooves, and therefore, the horizontal displacement of the inner bracket 48 with respect to the stop plate 40 can be adjusted.

Kicker plates 62a, 62b 62c are secured to the crosspiece 52 above the respective channels 14. At the center of the crosspiece 52, a pneumatic cyliner 64 is connected. The top of cylinder 64 is in turn pivotally connected to bracket 66 through which a threaded shaft 68 projects. A hand operated wheel 70 is secured to the top of shaft 68 for rotation thereof. Vertical section 72 is secured at its top to the bracket 66, and at its bottom has slots 68, 68a (FlG. 3) to receive clamping screws 71, 71a to adjustably secure section 72 to crosspiece 36 of the outer U-shaped bracket 32. By turning handwheel 70, the inner U-shaped bracket 48 rotates about shafts 38, 38a, and therefore, the vertical distance of kicker plates 62a, 62b and 620 with respect to the bottom of stop plate 40 can be adjusted. A gage 74 is provided on vertical section 72 to facilitate this adjustment. The index for gage 74 is the top of block 91 which is attached to crosspiece 36.

To adjust the invention for proper operation, the yoke bolts 60, 60a are first loosened and the distance between stop plate 40 and kicker plates 62a, 62b, 620 is set to a suitable distance, which can be about one half inch. The yoke bolts 60, 60a are then tightened. Thereafter, bolts 44, 44a are turned so that the lower end of stop plate 40 is above the top part of belt 10 by a distance about equal to one half of the bottle thickness. The exact distance depends upon the bottle shape. Clamping screws 71 71a are then loosened, and cyliner 64 is actuated to its downwardly extended position. Handwheel 70 is turned so that kicker plates 62a, 62b, 62c are slightly below stop plate 40 when in their lowermost position to ensure that bottles 14 clear the stop plates 62a, 62b, 62c. Thereafter, the distance of the entire unit, and in particular the distance of the stop plate 40 is set from the drum 12 so that the bottles 14 clear the stop plate 40 when required to do so. Wing nuts 29 are loosened and adjustable section 18 is then laterally adjusted so that the leading edge of hinge plate 20 rests on the trailing edge of bottle 14.

FIG. 4 shows the operation of the invention. Bottles 14, which can face either direction, are leftwardly moved by belt until they abut stop plate 40, where they are prevented from tipping into chute 22 by hinge 20. At a selected instant of time, the cylinder 64 is actuated to press downward, thus causing inner bracket 48 to pivot about shafts 38, 38a. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, kicker plates 62a, 62b, 62c press bottles 14 below stop plate 40. Since this is a positive feeding action the tendency for sequential bottles to lock together is positively broken. Very shortly thereafter cylinder 64 is deactivated so that kicker plates 62a, 62b, 620 are upwardly withdrawn and only one bottle at a time from each of the channels falls down chute 22 due to gravity and the frictional effect of the conveyor belt 10. Hinge frictionally engages the next bottle 14, thereby preventing it from going down the chute 22 with the previous bottle until cylinder 64 is again actuated.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for selectively feeding articles from an input means to an adjacent lower output means, said device comprising a frame; means mounted on said frame for successively stopping said articles at a selected position intermediate said input and output means with the front portion of said stopped article projecting into said output means; and kicker means mounted on said frame for downwardly rotating said front portion beneath said stopping means and upwardly rotating the rear portion of said stopped article away from the front portion of the next successive article, whereby an interlock between said articles is positively broken and said articles go onto said output means one at a time.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stopping means comprises a U-shaped bracket pivotally mounted on said frame and disposed above said input means and a stop plate mounted on said bracket approximately one half of an article thickness above said input means and greater than said article thickness over said output means.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 further comprising means for adjusting the distance of said stop plate from said output means.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said adjusting means comprises a threaded screw projecting from said bracket and engaging said frame.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said kicker means comprises a U-shaped bracket pivotally and slideably mounted on said frame; a bent kicker plate mounted on said bracket; means for actuating said plate coupled to said bracket; and means for adjusting the displacement between said kicker plate and said stopping means coupled between said actuating means and said stopping means.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said actuating means comprises pneumatic cylinder.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said adjusting means comprises a threaded shaft.

8. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said input means comprises a horizontal conveyor belt.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said output means comprises a slanted chute. 

1. A device for selectively feeding articles from an input means to an adjacent lower output means, said device comprising a frame; means mounted on said frame for successively stopping said articles at a selected position intermediate said input and output means with the front portion of said stopped article projecting into said output means; and kicker means mounted on said frame for downwardly rotating said front portion beneath said stopping means and upwardly rotating the rear portion of said stopped article away from the front portion of the next successive article, whereby an interlock between said articles is positively broken and said articles go onto said output means one at a time.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stopping means comprises a U-shaped bracket pivotally mounted on said frame and disposed above said input means and a stop plate mounted on said bracket approximately one half of an article thickness above said input means and greater than said article thickness over said output means.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2 further comprising means for adjusting the distance of said stop plate from said output means.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said adjusting means comprises a threaded screw projecting from said bracket and engaging said frame.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said kicker means comprises a U-shaped bracket pivotally and slideably mounted on said frame; a bent kicker plate mounted on said bracket; means for actuating said plate coupled to said bracket; and means for adjusting the displacement between said kicker plate and said stopping means coupled between said actuating means and said stopping means.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said actuating means comprises pneumatic cylinder.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said adjusting means comprises a threaded shaft.
 8. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said input means comprises a horizontal conveyor belt.
 9. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said output means comprises a slanted chute. 